Nezahat

Nezahat has been a widow for 7 years and has 3 children. The eldest is 28 and the youngest is 14. Her two youngest children are in school.

During her husband’s illness, they accumulated a lot of debt. She and her daughter worked in a car factory. 5-6 months ago, she started making handcrafted items (beaded doilies, tablecloths, etc. that she makes on a frame). She sells them to those around her and in the municipalities' market stand. A friend of hers recommended Maya (the lender) to her so she applied and was approved for a loan.

She plans to make a trip to Istanbul to buy her raw material in bulk because she can get a better wholesale price there. Once she buys her materials and increases her inventory, she plans on getting a stall in one of the local markets. She has already tested her handiwork in the market and it sold very well. In the future, she would like to open a workshop. As for her children, she wants her daughter to finish law school and wants her youngest son to be an English teacher. When asked what else she wanted lenders to know about her she said, “I want to thank them for opportunity to have this loan.”

Additional Information

About Maya

Although Turkey is one of the largest economies in the region, it has not reached its potential for microfinance investment. Deficient legal structures for microfinance credit initiatives and lack of quality information about microfinance demand and structure in Turkey are the largest obstacles to improvements in the field. Under these challenging conditions, Maya provides group and individual loans to low-income women who lack access to the financial services they need in order to start or improve their own small-scale businesses. Maya, established in 2002, was Turkey’s first microcredit program. Maya is Kiva’s first Field Partner in Turkey and posted its first loans in August 2011. Headquartered in Istanbul, Maya has four branch offices. For more information, visit Maya’s partner page.